2 more women level sex-abuse allegations against Scottsdale pastor

A photo of Les Hughey on the Highlands Church website. The pastor is accused of sexually abusing four women while he worked as a youth pastor for a California church in the 1980s.(Photo: Highlands Church)

The Scottsdale pastor placed on leave after allegations that he sexually abused teenage girls while working at a California church decades ago is now being accused by two women who said they were groped while he was a pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church.

The women came forward with allegations against Les Hughey, founder of Highlands Community Church in north Scottsdale.

In interviews with The Arizona Republic, the women said he sexually assaulted them when he served as a youth pastor at Scottsdale Bible Church in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The women said they believe more women at Scottsdale Bible Church were also abused.

The two women agreed to be identified during their interviews with The Republic. The Republic generally does not identify possible victims of sexual abuse.

Hughey was placed on a leave of absence from Highlands after multiple women told The Modesto Beethat he had victimized them while he was working as a youth pastor at a Modesto, Calif., church in the 1970s.

Hughey, in a written statement, said he "sinned'' during his time at First Baptist Church in Modesto but that he had only "consensual relations" with college-age staff.

'You were the only one'

Carey Fuller was shocked to see the news about Hughey. For decades, she thought she had been the only one to receive one of what Fuller called his "famous full-body massages." That massage crossed the line when he groped her genitals, she told The Republic.

Hughey, then a youth group leader at Scottsdale Bible Church, was attractive and charismatic, Fuller recounted. He was married and in his late 20s at the time, she said.

"Everyone always wanted to be around him," she said. "It was always a gift to be around Les."

Fuller said she was honored to be selected as one of the few who were invited to hang out in the church van one night during a mission trip to Mexico when she was 18.

Les Hughey at the Highlands Church on East Pinnacle Peak Road in North Scottsdale when it was nearing completion.(Photo: Dave Seibert/The Republic)

She happily accepted when Hughey offered her one of his "famous" massages, but she didn't know what to do when it suddenly went too far, Fuller said. Somehow, no one noticed in the van's dim light, so she figured it had must have been an accident.

"I wasn’t a strong enough person and I didn’t want to offend anyone there," Fuller said. "I didn’t think to call him out, so I just laid there."

Within hours, she learned at least five other women she had known during her time in the youth group said they had experienced the same thing, she said.

Her best friend, Juliet Buckner Pekaar, was one of them.

Hughey pulled the same "massage" ruse when they would travel together on band trips when she was 16, Buckner Pekaar said. The abuse continued until she married another youth pastor at the church when she was 19.

"His power was in making you think you were the only one," Buckner Pekaar said. "Nobody ever talked to each other, so there was just this shame and depression."

Neither of the women reported the incidents to police, they said.

Buckner Pekaar said she did attempt years ago to tell Scottsdale Bible Church staff members about Hughey's actions, but she said she stopped after their reaction made it clear they weren't interested.

Scottsdale police have received no complaints against Hughey, according to Officer Kevin Watts, a department spokesman.

The Modesto Police Department did not immediately respond to an inquiry on whether any complaints about Hughey had been reported there.

Fuller and Buckner Pekaar said they now plan to file a police report and indicated other possible Arizona victims may do so.

Highlands Church(Photo: Ryan Santistevan/The Republic)

After Modesto, a move to Scottsdale

Hughey was removed from the Modesto church in 1978, although church officials did not publicly cite a reason for his departure.

Epler said she had confided in church leadership once another staff member found an explicit note Hughey had written to her. Officials told her to "bury the secret," she said.

On Wednesday, Hughey issued a written statement in response to the Bee's report in which he admitted to having "sinned and harmed the most important relationships in my life" during his time in Modesto.

"I was unfaithful to my God, my wife, and the ministry, and was rightly removed from that church," he wrote. "Unfortunately, it’s impossible to undo what happened, so I instead accept and live with the consequences, even now so many years later."

After leaving First Baptist, Hughey was hired at Scottsdale Bible Church in the mid-1980s. He briefly served as a pastor in Monterey, Calif., before Highlands Community Church was founded in the late 1990s.

Scottsdale Bible Church officials said they were not aware of any complaints against Hughey until the accusations started circulating after the Modesto Bee articlewas published. Executive Pastor Scott Anderson said the church is looking into the accusations.

Anderson could not comment on why Hughey had left Scottsdale Bible Church, adding that it happened decades ago.

Highlands Community Church said in a statement Monday that the church "takes seriously any and all allegations of abuse or misconduct."

Doug Milligan, a Highlands Community Church official, said in a statement the church first learned of the allegations last week when Hughey gave the same statement issued to the Bee to church members. He was placed on an "indefinite leave of absence" while an independent investigation is conducted.

Milligan added that those looking into Hughey's actions are aware of the additional accusations "that occurred more than two decades ago, before the founding of Highlands Church."

"We are filled with sorrow for the heartbreak and harm these reported allegations have caused, we join with the Body of Christ in praying for all individuals involved or affected, and we ask for prayer for wisdom and discernment as the process moves forward," the statement said.

Highlands Church has asked that anyone with information contact info@highlandschurch.org.